Study: Upholstery fire risks overstated, costs understated
By Susan M. Andrews -- Furniture Today, March 27, 2006
Greensboro, N.C. — A new report claims that the Consumer Product Safety Commission has overstated the problem of upholstered furniture flammability, and has understated the cost to the industry of a proposed federal rule to make upholstery more flame-resistant.
CRA International, a consulting firm that evaluates public policy, was commissioned to study the CPSC's draft standard by the American Home Furnishings Alliance, the National Home Furnishings Assn. and the Upholstered Furniture Action Council. The report was made public last week at an AHFA flammability workshop here.
"CPSC staff's preliminary regulatory analysis fails to support the draft standard," the report said. "The staff overstates the expected benefits of the draft standard and understates the cost. CRA calculates that costs will exceed benefits by at least $145 million annually."
The CPSC staff estimates that benefits will exceed costs by $752 million a year.
The CRA report also claims that initial benefits will be very modest because the draft standard will affect only new furniture, which it says represents less than 10% of the furniture in use. The report also said benefits will fall over time as the number of smokers falls and other fire-reduction regulations take effect.
The CPSC is expected to vote on proposed rules this spring or summer. It has a number of options in its proposed rules, such as including only smoldering (cigarette) ignition, or both smoldering and small-open-flame ignition.
It could propose test protocols that include a cover fabric over foam, or just foam. The commission could also decide to propose rules based on the 2004 industry-recommended standard or the 2002 draft revised California standard (TB-117+) — or it could decide to take no action.
Most major upholstery producers adhere to UFAC's voluntary standard, which is designed to reduce the likelihood of upholstery fires from cigarettes. Such fires have steadily declined since the standard was established in 1978, according to UFAC Executive Director Joe Ziolkowski.
He said the industry's problem with the flammability issue centers on the question of standards to prevent fires started by a "small open flame," not cigarettes.
"About 90% of upholstery fires are cigarette-related," Ziolkowski said, "but about 90% of the cost to the industry will be related to (making upholstery resistant to) small-open-flame fires, which only represent about 10% of such fires."
The risk of fires from cigarettes was the impetus for the voluntary UFAC standard, according to Russ Batson, AHFA's vice president for government affairs.
"After all, it's reasonably foreseeable that you could get sleepy and drop a cigarette, or someone could be careless at a cocktail party. But a small open flame is typically unforeseeable child's play (with lighters or matches) and that behavioral aspect makes it much harder to address," said Batson.
He noted the CPSC "has been looking at (open-flame ignition) for 30 years, and the fact that we don't have a standard at this point speaks to how serious a challenge it is to address a behavioral issue through changes in the way furniture is made."
Batson said industry stakeholders want to support a reasonable regulation for the good of consumers.
"If something can be done cost effectively to make upholstered furniture safer than it is now, we want to do it," he said.
